Breath of Fire III

"Another great sequel to a great series"

First off I have something I want to say. I have noticed that about half the reviews on this site for an RPG compare everything to the Final Fantasy series. Ok. So they make good games get over it. Every RPG you pick up is not going to be Final Fantasy, accept it, get it over it. Sure you can make references to it but don't knock off points for a good game that you didn't like just because it wasn't Final Fantasy. Now that I've got that off my chest on with the review.

I've been playing the Breath of Fire series since it came out back on the Super Nintendo. I enjoyed the first two installments of the series and was expecting more of the same from this game. Of course the story starts out with Ryu, the blue haired hero who is at the heart of every game in the series. You eventually meet up with other characters and go on a journey, a typical RPG.

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Gameplay 10/10
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The battle system in the game is a typical turn based system. It is very easy to get a hold on. Why do people knock off points for this? Final Fantasy uses a similar system yet no one complains. The only real company I have seen that took some time to develop unique battle systems was Enix.

Anyway, you can learn skills from enemies by selecting examine when they use the specific skill. This was an original aspect. Too bad more of these skills weren't worth it. You also learn certain skills based on which master you are studying under. This is another creative aspect of this game. Depending on what master you study under determines what skills you get and how your attributes change as you level up. You can change masters at any times. Usually before you can become an appretice to a certain master you have to meet certain requirements adding more depth to the system.

Also you can't have a breath of fire game without the dragon transformations. I actually like the system used in this game. You find a set of dragon genes which can be combined in different ways to produce different dragons. Even though the dragons are powerful they aren't unbalanced and don't make the game absurdly easy.

There are also several mini games like the fairy village and the fishing game. These just add to the length of the game and aren't crucial in your success but are fun to experiment with anyway. You can develop the fairy village into a thriving community with weapon shops, item shops, and various mini games. Fishing can also take up a few hours of your time if you let it and try to catch every single fish. You can also trade your fish in for item at special ''Gobi'' stores. Fans of the series will remember Gobi fromt he first game.
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Characters 9/10
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This is an important to any RPG. There are a total of six characters to use. These characters are with you for most of the game so it gives you time to develop them the way you want. Some of the characters didn't exactly fit into the story until the very end so you might wonder why they are around in the first place. Most of the characters are likeable but not to original. You have the trademark characters such as the stealthy thief, slow powerhouse, average hero, and a weak magic caster. The only unique characters I can see are Momo and Pico. Pico is an onion who reminds me of the grassman from part 2 of the series. Momo doesn't seem to really have a place within the story and has you wondering why she's around at all.

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Story 9/10
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I love this story. Probably because it has to do with a corrupt religion as the main antagonist. In short the main story revolves around Garr and Ryu who are sworn enemies which is made clear near mid story. Garr is a member of the Guardians and Ryu a member of the Dragon Clan. There was a huge war in their past where the Guardians wiped out most of the dragons. After a certain event occurs Garr decides to take Ryu to meet with his God. There aren't really that many twists and turns but the ones that are present are pretty surprising. I think the story in this game is one of the better aspects.

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Replay Value 5/10
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This section is short. There are two ending which are dependent on a question asked at the end so you don't have to replay the game to get both endings. Told you it would be short.

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Overall 9/10
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This is one of my favorite RPGs and I have quite an extensive collection. It's more for the classical RPG fan and not the main stream ''Final Fantasy or not'' person. Anyone that has a decent devotion to the RPG genre will find comfort in this game.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 10/07/03